RAMOS documentation

RAMOS is a separate Run-Only version of AMOS Basic which allows 
you to run your programs totally independently of the AMOS 
package.  Unlike AMOS Basic, RAMOS has been placed on the Public 
domain, and can therefore be freely distributed along with any of 
your Basic programs. So you can legally sell your programs to 
anyone with an Amiga, even if they don't have a copy of AMOS 
Basic. (Shame!) 

As far as your programs are concerned, RAMOS is practically 
identical to AMOS Basic. There are just a couple differences. 
 
Differences between AMOS Basic and RAMOS

1. There's no editor! RAMOS performs an automatic Close Editor 
command after it has been loaded. If an error occurs or Cntrl-C 
is pressed, RAMOS returns straight back to the Workbench, without 
displaying an error message. 


2. There is no DEFAULT SCREEN. This allows you to initialise  
your screens at the start of your program, without having to 
display the default screen first. If your program actually uses 
the default screen, you'll need to add the following line to the 
start of your listing:
  
SCREEN OPEN 0,320,200,16,lowres

Creating a Run-Only program.

In order to distribute your programs in Run only form, you'll 
need to perform the following procedure.

1. Make a copy of the AMOS Extras disc using the Duplicate disc 
option from the Workbench.

2. Enter AMOS Basic and remove the existing AMOS programs from 
the new disc using the KILL command from direct mode. This will 
leave you with a fresh copy of the Run-only disc which can be 
used to hold your AMOS Basic programs.  

You are now faced with three possibilities.

Creating a RAMOS Boot disc

Save your program on the Run Only disc under the name 
AUTOEXEC.AMOS. Whenever you boot from this disc, RAMOS will 
automatically load and run your Basic program.

Calling a RAMOS program from the Workbench

Before accessing this feature, you need to instruct AMOS to create an 
icon for your programs when they are saved onto the disc. This 
process is very simple and only has to be performed once. 

Load a COPY of AMOS Basic and run the CONFIG.AMOS utility in the 
normal way. Once the program has initialised, enter the default 
settings from the disc using the "Load default  configuration" 
option from the DISC menu.  Now call the "Editor Setup" feature 
from the SET menu and click on the Save Icons box. You may then 
exit back to the main menu, and select "Save configuration". The 
new setting will be activated automatically whenever you 
subsequently load AMOS Basic. 

You can now save your programs directly onto your Run-Only disc. 
When you enter the Workbench, each program will be associated by 
a single icon in the directory window. Due to a (minor) bug in 
the current version of AMOS, all icons are initially placed in 
the left hand corner of the screen. Fortunately, it's easy enough 
to reposition your icons with the mouse and save the new 
arrangement using the Snapshot option (from the Special menu.)   

The final step is to adjust your icons for use with the RAMOS 
system. Click on the appropriate program icon and select the Info 
option from the Workbench menu.  Now  change the default tool 
from :AMOS to :RAMOS, and install the icon onto the disc with 
SAVE.

Once you've followed this procedure, you can access your programs  
directly from the Workbench by double clicking the required icon. 
As usual, you can  flick between your program and the Workbench 
at any time by pressing the Amiga-A keys.  

Executing RAMOS from the CLI:

If you're familiar with the CLI system, you can access RAMOS straight 
from the command line.

The syntax is:

ramos [program.amos]

Where program.amos is the program you wish to execute. If it's 
omitted then RAMOS will attempt to load a file called 
AUTOEXEC.AMOS from the current directory.

RAMOS may also be run as part of a batch file if required. 
Warning! Always set the current drive to your Run-only disc with 
the CD command before calling RAMOS. Otherwise RAMOS will not be 
able to find the various system files it needs in order to run.

Example:

Cd Extras:
Ramos
   

RAMOS notes

The configuration settings used by RAMOS can be found in the 
RAMOS.ENV file in AMOS_System directory. This 
file does not include any of the usual error messages, so it's 
around  7 k smaller than the equivalent AMOS version. You  change 
these settings using the CONFIG.AMOS utility supplied on the AMOS
programs disc